When you think of France, do you think of fries (surprise, they're from Belgium!)? Or that the Olympics were in Paris? Don't lose your head! This will give you an overview of who our heroines are and what they are fighting for on stage!
The French Revolution- Not the revolution from Les Miserables. This revolution was the poor and peasants of France rising up against the nobility. It begins in 1789 and officially ends ten years later with a coup by Napoleon Bonaparte. The French Revolution had two main opponents, the Jacobins and the Girondins.
The Reign of Terror - a period of the French Revolution when a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place took place in response to revolutionary fervour, anticlerical sentiment, and accusations of treason. By the end, 16,594 official death sentences had been dispensed throughout France since June 1793, of which 2,639 were in Paris alone. An additional 10,000 to 12,000 people had been executed without trial and 10,000 had died in prison.
Olympe de Gouges - Our revolutionary playwright. She is remembered for fighting for the rights of women and composing "Declarations of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen," which claimed that if women could mount a scaffold, they should be able to defend themselves as well.
Charlotte Corday - Our Angel of Assassins. Actually of noble birth, Corday was educated in a convent and was considered to be very intellectual, especially for a female in 1793.
Marie Antoinette - Our Citizen Queen. Austrian born, wife of Louis XVI. She was famed for a love of extravagance in clothing, materials, and especially jewels, but who is the woman underneath?
Jean Paul Marat - leader of the Jacobin political party, who inspired the execution and overthrow of his opposing party (the Girondins). An ever worsening skin disease confined him to a bathtub, where Corday was able to assassinate him in 1793.
King Louis XVI - King of France from 1774-1792. Considered indecisive and conservative, he became a symbol of tyranny to the people of France. However, he did assist America in the American Revolution and the favor was not returned when his time of need came. He was the only king of France to be executed.
Saint Domingue - was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1697 to 1804.
Jacobin - one of several organizations that grew out of the French Revolution and it was distinguished for its left-wing, revolutionary politics. Because of this, the Jacobins, unlike other sects such as the Girondins (who were originally part of the Jacobins, but branched off), were closely allied to the popular force of working-class Parisians that played a pivotal role in the development of the revolution.
Girondin - a political group during the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. They initially were part of the Jacobin movement. They campaigned for the end of the monarchy, but then resisted the spiraling momentum of the Revolution. They dominated the movement until their fall in the insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793, which resulted in the purge and eventual mass execution of the Girondins. This event is considered to mark the beginning of the Reign of Terror.
